Captain America 2 & The Future of Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios was able to hammer out two blockbuster superhero films this year to introduce Captain America and Thor – the remaining core characters of The Avengers. This is in accordance to Marvel’s mandate of two major theatrical releases per year, a trend that sadly ends next year with The Avengers coming all by itself after the lower-budget production of Runaways was put on hiatus.

The two years after that however, fans should be getting their dual fix each summer, starting with Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 in the summer of 2013 and at least two more Marvel movies to fill in the two summer dates the studio locked down in 2014. As I stated in our discussion of writer Christopher Markus’ desire to have MODOK be a villain in Captain America 2, the Chris Evans solo sequel would certainly release in 2014 – According to him, that does seem to be the case.

While doing the press rounds for his upcoming flick Puncture, Evans cannot avoid questions about his career’s biggest role as the star-spangled Avenger. The Playlist spoke to him about the role and his upcoming appearances, where he explains that with his 6-picture contract (3 Captain America movies + 3 Avengers movies) it is highly unlikely for him to cameo in other movies and that because of that, he likely won’t be seen as Steve Rogers again until Captain America debuts – likely in 2014 as everyone expected.

“They may wait until 2014 until they release the next Cap. Marvel has a lot of balls in the air, they aren’t going to cannibalize their films… Out of those six films, if I pop up in one of those [other films], it counts as part of the deal. So if they needed me in a third Cap, and I say, ‘F*** you, give me $30 million,’ well…they want to avoid that.”

Marvel Studios has successfully created an interconnected movie universe, the true first of its kind. Since they began with The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man in 2008, each successive film in the franchise has included more ties to previous installments and built more of a foundation for future films to follow.

With Captain America: The First Avenger being the last movie to debut before Joss Whedon’s take on The Avengers, it is essentially its prequel. Knowing that The Avengers is the first big step towards opening the universe to more movies to come, Marvel Studios may find itself in a predicament in deciding which properties to focus their efforts on post-Avengers.

We had hoped that The Avengers would act as a launch pad of sorts for other characters and the greater Marvel cinematic universe. For years now, we’ve shared our desires and heard the hints and reports of other characters from Marvel’s vast library getting script treatments and interested talent, but still, there is nothing on the way outside of the ‘big three’ featured in the “Avengers Assemble” logo.

If Captain America 2 takes one of Marvel’s two 2014 release dates, that leaves one left for what will be either Ant-Man or The Avengers 2. So when will audiences get an opportunity to see Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, Iron First, Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy? Do they realistically even have a shot? Perhaps they’ll be utilized for television programs or short films.

The problem is that Marvel cannot simply abandon their core characters – just like Warner Bros. will not settle for having no Batman movie on the way. Iron Man, Thor and Cap sell so those characters are going to keep getting movies. Does Marvel wait until after a trilogy for each and simply stop them to replace with even lesser known characters? No, Marvel needs to tie these other characters into their bankable properties and for that to work – assuming they’re aiming for full feature, live-action theatrical releases for the likes of Dr. Strange and co., then the studio will need to boost its production to even more films per year – perhaps 4, a number dropped previously in discussion of Marvel’s long-term planning.

For now, the foreseeable future is limited to the core characters we know are coming in The Avengers and the success and reaction to it will determine which additional characters – such as Black Widow or Hawkeye – will get a spin-off of their own, or perhaps a movie based on both of them together along with the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Is it good that Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and Captain America 2 may not be weighed down but inter-connectivity? How should Marvel plan their release schedule in the coming years?

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Just because Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are mutants DOESN’T mean that Fox has the rights to those characters. Fox has the rights to the X-Men (which neither character is a member of) as well as Daredevil. As far as I know, Marvel–when it was in a much weaker place box-office-wise, sold the rights to certain characters and groups, not an entire class of characters.

Which means that Quicksilver (traditionally an Avenger, as is the Scarlet Witch) are free for Marvel to make films of.

That begin said, I doubt it will happen, if only because there are more prominent characters (as well as second-strink) that could be subjects of feature films.

I have to see X-Men origins again, though by no means does it mean that just because they own the rights to Quicksilver, that they also own those for the Scarlet Witch.

They may, but you can’t necessarily assume, despite the two characters being related.

You mention that they are Magneto’s children, yet do you actually think the average studio executive knows that? I suspect that when Marvel was in dire straits, there was a fire sale on their characters, and they took the known properties, as well as some smaller ones.

Would like to see Moon Knight as a complex mind bender/vigilante movie. Something like Memento/Fight Club meets Taxi Driver. Have different actors portray different aspects of Moon Knight and keep it unknown not only to the main character but also to the audience that they are all the same being. Interweave the the character stories seamlessly like Crash to help better create the image that this film is about multiple characters.

We’ll get to see next year just what will happen when you have so many major superhero movie’s coming out – Spider-Man, Batman & The Avengers…critics will be dying to savage at least one of ‘em..whether deserved or not.
Def think other characters belonging to Marvel should appear through the major characters movies.

Even though I like how these movies are true to the comics, MODOK the big floating chair head would not work. He would only work if they made him more humanoid with like metal computery parts. The big hovering chair would look stupid. Hopefully they put Mandarin in IM3 though. Now, he could easily be done like the comics.

It’s not as if Marvel is a film universe where you don’t have to drastically suspend disbelief when in the movie theatre. They might as well go full comic and have MODOK with his giant head and floating chair. They lost substantial realism with Captain America, they might as well keep it going with the out of this world sci-fi element.

I agree: there is a difference between sci-fi and “just plain weird”.
FYI: MODOK is “just plain weird”

I think McFeely (or whoever else mentioned MODOK) was just making a little joke/expressing his creativity… there is no way Marvel would allow MODOK (at least the conventional one) to mess up this franchise.

Ask yourselves this question: if Marvel didn’t even make Arnim Zola an android-type-thing (like in the comics), then why would they introduce a flying, giant-headed-person with little arms and legs into the movie?

Yes. Besides looking downright silly, the character of Moron would raise all types of questions that would distract from the story (how does his heart circulate enough blood to support his head? How does his digestive system manage to process what must be an unhealthy amount of food consumed in a single mouthful? How does someone with such large eyes blink enough to keep them protected from debris, etc.?). This is all aside from the fact that he looks quite unimtimidating.

Yes, Modok is visually “interesting” when in the comic book medium… but he’d come off as ridiculous on film (sans major revisions).

Yes. Besides looking downright silly, the character of Modok would raise all types of questions that would distract from the story (how does his heart circulate enough blood to support his head? How does his digestive system manage to process what must be an unhealthy amount of food consumed in a single mouthful? How does someone with such large eyes blink enough to keep them protected from debris, etc.?). This is all aside from the fact that he looks quite unimtimidating.

Yes, Modok is visually “interesting” when in the comic book medium… but he’d come off as ridiculous on film (sans major revisions).

Yes. Besides looking rather comical, the character of Modok would raise all types of questions that would distract from the story (how does his heart circulate enough blood to support his head? How does his digestive system manage to process what must be an unhealthy amount of food consumed in a single mouthful? How does someone with such large eyes blink enough to keep them protected from debris, etc.?). This is all aside from the fact that he looks quite unimtimidating.

Yes, Modok is visually “interesting” when in the comic book medium… but he’d come off as ridiculous on film (sans major revisions).

I dont think a Avengers 2 and Cap 2 should be in the same year. If I was Chris I would not want to do both films again at the same time. Give Hulk another chance (I do prefer Norton). Then do a Avengers 2, or Black panther, Luke Cage. Speaking of Cage, Marvel could slip in Ghost Rider into the Avengers film.

ASIANS CAN ACTUALLY READ MINDS!!!!!!!!!!!
they can hear and see what your visually thinking
this is the complete truth

the reason alot of asians have completely expressionless faces, only associate with asians and dont associate with non asians very much is to avoid accidentally revealing that they can read read minds, if all over a billion asians were to show facial expressions all the time just as much as non asians, associate with non asians much more, and be much more friendly and talkative, then alot of them might accidentally reveal that they can read minds by accidentally showing a facial expression or dirty look when someone thinks, or visually pictures something in their mind they dont like or find astonishing or funny, and if they were all to associate with non asians alot more there would be alot more people around for them to accidentally show facial expressions when those other people think things they dont like, so they only associate with asians so there wont be anyone around for them to see that and have any accidents happen in the first place

think about it, its not normal how alot of them act, and the entire way they act is all to hide their mind reading abilities, it makes perfect sense to do all of that to hide that they can read minds, because all of that is the perfect way to do it!
every single asian on the planet is hiding their mind reading abilities, they will lie about having mind reading abilities forever!
because they value hiding their mind reading abilities more then their own lives!
thats why nobody knows about it!

try thinking, best yet visually picturing in your mind something something absolutely crazy as you possibly can when you are around asians, and try looking for asians who give people particular looks, especially dirty looks for what appears to be for completely no reason, that is them giving people looks when they hear and visually see someone thinking something they dont like, find funny or astonishing
it still happens despite a large number of them having completely expressionless faces all the time, it would just happen alot more if none of them had completely expressionless faces all the time, its not uncommon!

i know this sounds crazy, impossible, and completely unbelievable, BUT IT ISNT CRAZY WHEN ITS TRUE

the reason you think this truly is crazy, impossible and unbelieveable is because our society has propagandized people into believing that nothing extra ordinary is real and that is really is impossible, and that its crazy to think that its true that people can read minds, all just to cover up that asians can read minds! who says that cant exist? the people who have mind reading abilities who are trying to cover it up!

you have to spread the message!!!
the world has to know about this!!!!

If The Avengers doesnt launch, hint at, or otherwise make some reference to The Black Panther I will be extremely disappointed. Especially after watching IM2 with the directors commentary on. And Marvel, if you’re reading this, I for one will not have any problem whatsoever with replacing actors(Evans, Hemsworth, Downey) if they play hardball and try to screw up movies by demanding outrageous salaries.

Don’t be daft. Of course it is best if we can keep the current actors. That does not mean that another skilled actor can’t step in and do a great job. Ruffalo surprised the heck out of me with his Banner.

maybe they are planning a much better sequel to captain america, i like to see sharon carter, the winter soldier or modok in the next installment, the fans are willing to wait to see cap again or maybe it is shown in 2014 or 2015..perhaps!!

Marvel needs to capitalize on their dominance in the Comic-Book-to-Movie field before Disney and DC get smart about how to play in this area and start putting out more Nolan like/inspired films having learned from the mistakes (I hope they learn) of Green Lantern. Right now BATMAN is all that DC really has that is a solid money maker since the Superman is still up in the air as to how it will do.

Instead of focusing on two major films a year they should experiment some with smaller characters on smaller budgets perhaps even done by another smaller studio. Would it really hurt Marvel to let one of the smaller studios that has films focusing more on drama then CGI, do a film on a 2nd or 3rd tier character who doesn’t require CGI, a character like a DEADPOOL or even a CABLE? I know the plan for (or at least was) with DEADPOOL is to use RYAN REFOLDS but that doesn’t mean it has to be expensive to do, does it?

Another idea is to take a look at TV and a weekly serial like DC’s SMALLVILE was; a highly successful show and the most successful show ever that was tied to a comic book character. I think a S.H.E.I.L.D. series could be done and do very well. The TV show could be about how SHEILD agents go after the non-super powered criminals that are still able to elude the police; the bad guys who aren’t bad enough to warrant the AVENGERS attention but whom the police can’t catch. I know that the CRIME DRAMA does well (i.e. 24, THE SHIELD, ect) and so this would just be the comic book take on that popular genre.

A SHEILD series could provide great tie-ins and cross promotions with the actual films. Imagine a series of episodes leading up to a season finale that is a prequel to a major film? This kind of cross promotion and tie-in between TV and film would be the equivalent of what major cross over event stories achieve within comic book titles. The title tie ins provided additional and or deeper back story to the main story or film.

Just an idea. I do love comic book based film and would love to see something on TV now that SMALLVILLE is over.

“Marvel needs to capitalize on their dominance in the Comic-Book-to-Movie field before Disney and DC get smart about how to play in this area and start putting out more Nolan like/inspired films having learned from the mistakes (I hope they learn) of Green Lantern. Right now BATMAN is all that DC really has that is a solid money maker since the Superman is still up in the air as to how it will do.”

Expanding beyond the Big Three is wise. You don’t want to get people tired of the characters after 3 movies (Spidey 3 anyone?) and each of these characters will be in 6.

Black Panther could cameo in the Avengers and the have a spinoff. Maybe have a SHIELD movie without the Avengers. A buddy comedy with Luke Cage and Iron Fist (Isiah Mustafa would be perfect for this). Or even a Tales to Astonish double feature in the same vein as Grindhouse.

Blank panther and Wakanda can tie in as an espionage type story involving shield. Cap going to Wakanda is the best way to bring in BP. That way They don’t need to make him an origin movie, But could make him and awesome stand alone film later.

I would like to see another shot at the Fantastic Four. I suppose that Marvel doesn’t have the rights to them either, but it seems a little odd how much talk there often is w/out any mention of them. But Marvel is doing great, really – they don’t seem to be in any danger of DC catching up to them anytime soon.

I guess I will be waiting forever to see The She-Hulk or at least Jennifer Walters introduced in a Hulk film. Come on Marvel, with The Hulk being from what it seems, firmly entrenched on the big screen, it’s time to get his cousin there too.

I would really like to see a Miss Marvel movie. So far, there’s not much superheroine movies in development and I think it’s time we should have more heroines getting the spotlight. I think Miss Marvel is a great character and she deserve to get her own piece of the action.

I think Thor 2 may introduce Nova and could cross over with Surfer if Fox didn’t own him. Sounds like Thor will be exploring the universe and should have run-ins with the Kree and the Skrull (already did in Avengers, sort-of, with the Chitari (?). And once the Kree are introduced that opens up Captain Mar-vel and Ms Marvel in Avengers 2.

Characters that will more than likely appear in Cap sequels are: Crossbones, Baron Von Strucker, the Winter Soldier and a return of Arnim Zola and The Red Skull but the Red Skull will be re-cast by another actor. Falcon will most likely appear in Cap 3. Keep in mind that just about any character however silly or corny he/she may be, CAN be made to be cool, realistic, or plausible depending on how the character is designed, portrayed and the story behind it. That being said, “M.O.D.O.K” CAN be done right if the right design for him is done. Remember this is science fiction so suspension of belief will need to be there with elements of REAL science to make the fiction more plausible. Modok will be moslty re-designed for live action but possibly still stay true to the comics in some way. I say a realistic Modok would be kind of scary to look at and could totally be a character similar to the telepathic character(supposedly “LEGION”) who was in the wheelchair portrayed in X-Men 2. A character similar to that with atrophied limbs and a huge head supported by the seat some how can work.

Arnim Zola was NOT ready to be portrayed in his robotic from just yet in CA:TFA. It would make sense to want to have preserved his mind within a machine to have lasted the next 60 years trying to make himself immortal. So seeing Arnim Zola in the present time in his robotic form makes total sense.

Cap 3 will not only most likley have Falcon but I predict the appearance of The U.S. Agent story arch to be a part of it too.

I like your take on Modok, but am nervous about some of these second-tier characters getting their own films. I would envision some of them teaming up for ensemble pieces or starring with first-tier characters, but not having their own films unless the public really embraced them. Either way, it looks like we’ll have Marvel films for quite awhile. If they’re as good as Cap and Thor, I’ll be the first in line!

BTW, it’s too bad Hugo Weaving wants out. He’s great as RS, so I hope Marvel will throw tons of money his way to finish things out. We really need actors that can match the bad guys portrayed in the comics. Weaving could be one of the greatest ever, if Marvel can convince him to stay on.

@SoundtrackWhore, Thanks and I agree that a second tier character is very tricky to be successful with in the live action world. Pretty much, most of the MAJOR second tier characters are already out of the way although there are still many in the Marvel U. I think right now Marvel is at THIRD tier level actually. The remaining 2nd tier characters would be Black Panther, Dr.Strange, and A.N.T-Man-(almost third tier). But a good example is how Blade was more of a 3rd/4th tier character and “BLADE” is in my opinion THE BEST Marvel character(associated) movie EVER to this date. Actually if I were to put Blade up against ALL Marvel movies(from every studio), I would say that Blade would be the best Marvel movie,even better than Iron Man(in some ways).

I do also agree that the best way to intro a character is to cameo him/her first in some way in order to know if it’ll work or not. Some characters are just TOO important to cameo in another movie BEFORE debuting their OWN FIRST. But there can be ways to elude to characters without spoiling their appearance with a cameo before they get their own movie. Which IS what Marvel Studios is doing with some characters already.

As far as Hugo Weaving, he is a great actor and he was good in Captain America but he wasn’t menacing enough, he bordered the line of campiness a little. Tom Hiddleston’s portrayal of Loki was MUCH better. I think if Weaving had the opportunity to do a Red Skull origin, then he would have shined better but with Marvel Studios’ track record with their actors, I doubt they’ll be that interested or even Weaving THAT interested in him coming back. There are other actors who can and could’ve done a better job and maybe Marvel should have gotten with an extremely talented unknown to portray the Red Skull like they did with Tom Hiddleston as Loki.

I would love to see a crossover style similar to the comic books, particularly for the individual hero movies. What I mean is say a scene that is in both movies, say an Iron Man 2 and a Thor 2, each having their own perspective of that scene, but seperate stories, that merge for just a bit and then diverge back to their own stories. Just like the comic books.

I thought it was a clever way to get readers of a certain hero interested in another title. For a movie, I just think it would be neat.

I hope the new captain america movie gives some insite to that date he missed out on 70 years ago.You just cant leave that hanging.Thats sad to miss out on.Looks like the first movie turned out to be a love story in the end.I know i sound like a chick but,it’s coming from someone who knows what it’s like to miss out.

A few things, now that the Avengers movie has come out. (Don’t read first part if you haven’t seen Avengers)
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I am SO glad Hulk was the comic relief. It was amazing to see him smash Thor *Punch* And SMASH Loki, the 2 powerful gods got “pwned” by him.
I have to give this to them, Marvel did a GREAT job in distributing the heroes’ roles. It wasn’t too much Iron Man, too much Captain America, none of that. It was perfectly balanced and that’s the #1 thing I was worried about. They also gave them equally funny lines (or smashes), like Thor’s “He was adopted” or Iron Man’s “He’s playing Galaga” All of this had the theater rolling with laughter. It was awesome. It’s hard to make so many fantastic movies and make one equally as good-no wait, BETTER.

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They HAVE to make a Captain America 2. I personally enjoyed it but most of my friends disliked it, and based on who I’ve asked, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the least successful out of the Avenger series. I was looking forward to it and they actually did an awesome job. So, things were a little futuristic. It’s SHIELD. The giant carrier in the sky? THAT, nobody cares about? Marvel is all about that, at least they incorporate it into most of their movies, and they do a great job with it. You may complain that things were unrealistic in Captain America, but when Iron Man in the Avengers flew the missile into space, about 400 MPH (OR MORE) he wouldn’t just fall back in. He’d be going so fast, he’d continue flying into where the nuke exploded. But that doesn’t make a good movie. Also, the ending was COMPLETELY misunderstood by the audience, in my opinion. I don’t know how they wanted everyone to feel about Steve’s “date” he planned. I felt he was doing it to just reassure her that he’d be alright, and she agreed to try to convince herself he would be gone, but she knew it would be the last time she may ever see him again. But the people I saw it with just thought “Aww he missed the date” and they even cried. THAT’S NOT WHAT THE MOVIE WAS ABOUT! Yeah sure if you think of it that way it can be a little heartbreaking but you can’t just take THAT, just THAT away from this amazing movie. People may not like it because it seemed a little depressing, at least to me it did. I mean, “I can’t get drunk so I’m forced to think about my friend falling to his death” that’s uncalled for. A lot of the movie is off-topic, in my opinion, and it angered me. I get the fact they want to build the relationship, I get it. But there’s some Red-Faced dude trying to kill a bunch of stuff and you’re too busy focusing on their relationship to even care. Not sure why else.
I’m looking forward to the new movie. I think if they do it right they can make it not only cool, but maybe even funnier than the Avengers. “Why are there orange people in this small box?” “That’s a TV and we’re watching Jersey Shore, dude” Things like that, poking and jabbing at modern day stupidities that can make this movie good, because he was from the past and is getting introduced to so many differences.
Thor was good, I didn’t realize the arrow guy who shot Thor was Hawk-Eye. Should have made it clearer. Besides that I enjoyed it.
I’ve seen 0 Hulk movies.
Iron Man is my favorite, and even though I love it I haven’t seen them in so long it’s hard to comment much about it. I guess I’ll only have 12% of a commentary…(Avenger reference) (or was it 18%…)

There’s so much talk here about Dr.Strange movies and such, and I honestly don’t care for those characters. There CAN be an Iron Man or Thor movie (in my opinion they can have better team-mates, ironic cause it’s Iron Man but STILL) and people like Dr.Strange or even Blade can come in and help out in defeating giant menacing bad guys, but I’m not a comic fanatic so I really don’t know many villains. I 100% forgot what happened to Red Skull, but I think I remember him getting sucked away into a different dimension maybe…? If that IS true, sorry if I’m wrong, but they can make him tie in to Thor’s world and he was inventing giant, powerful things up there that eventually come back. (May sound weird but this is why I’m not a screenwriter) But really, these minor characters aren’t that famous among the marvel world. Even a SHIELD movie, just about them, can be OK, but still not as good as another Thor or Captain America. They’d need to find that ONE hero that isn’t too popular but is still awesome if made into a movie correctly.

Now with villains, MODOK=No no. Just no. Plain and simple. No. Actually Galactus is kind of cool, and even though Fantastic Four already did something about him, it wasn’t too much. It was more about Silver Surfer and Doctor Doom, and they didn’t fight Galactus from what I remember, just made him run away. Also, if you ever play Ultimate Alliance, you’d see that version of Galactus is more human-like than Fantastic Four’s smoke Galactus. And if Iron Man or Captain America went up against Galactus, not only would it be an epic battle, but they can incorporate other heroes like previously mentioned Dr.Strange or the ANT guy. (Sorry, I know my heroes from the Ultimate Alliance game and ANT-Man or whatever wasn’t in it…) So Galactus would be cool. Or how about them just kicking butt? I never see a movie without an antagonist and protagonist. Eliminate the main bad guy and just kick a bunch of thieving butt. At least for a lot of the movie it would be cool and this may happen with Captain America, considering he needs to get used to the modern world. Again, looking forward to the Captain America remake and I hope audiences will like this better than the first.

I wonder in the next avengers movie will include spider-man, wolverine, spider-woman, or maybe ms.marvel
I now i’m probably missing more avengers heroes but i’ll like 2 c these heroes in da next film hopefully even if it just a cameo apperance

I’m just happy to know that there are more cap. movies to come , as long as Chris Evans is in them I’m fine ^_^ … I hope Spiderman will be in the next avengers movie , now tht they’re getting a reboot. Marvel’s certainly busy now

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